Howard Elementary School

Howard Elementary School will be participating in the National Walk to School day event on October 4, 2017. This is a great way to promote healthy habits while enjoying quality family time and making new community connections! Please consider walking to school with your children on October 4!

Parents, or a designated adult who has agreed to take responsibility, must walk with their children. None of our parent volunteers who are leading the walk will be taking responsibility for any children but their own. You must provide supervision for your own children for this event.
This is completely a volunteer activity, so you have the following options on October 4:
• Parents may choose not to participate, and therefore may transport their child to school as they would every day.
• Parents may organize their own walk to school group from their homes with parents leading the way or just walk with their own children from home. Students will hold up their signs to show that they are participating in this event.
• Parents may also join in by walking along with our students and your own children from one of four gathering points:

Short walking options: Meet at 8:10 begin walking at 8:15
1. The North East corner of Mildred and Hollander (York Park). We are encouraging our lower elementary (grades k-2) students to walk from this gathering place along with their parents, but students from all grades may choose this option with their parents. There will be a “Walking School Bus” where some children will be holding pieces of cardboard decorated as parts of a school bus when they are assembled together creates a “Walking School Bus”. This is being organized by 1st grade parents who will coordinate the arrival of all of the bus pieces. Other students can walk behind the walking school bus. Students will hold up their signs to show that they are participating in this event.

The route to school from this location will be from the North East corner of Mildred and Hollander and will proceed East on Hollander to the Corner of Hollander and N. York, and then North on N. York to the front of the school. Students will hold up their signs to show that they are participating in this event.

2. The basketball court at the corner of Mildred and Edward Streets. This will be the second location that we will encourage parents of lower elementary students to walk (Howard students of all ages are welcomed with parents). We will have a second “Walking School Bus” where some children will be holding pieces of cardboard decorated as parts of a school bus when they are assembled together creates a “Walking School Bus”. This is being organized by 1st grade parents who will coordinate the arrival of all of the bus pieces. Other students can walk behind the walking school bus. Students will hold up their signs to show that they are participating in this event.

The route for this location will be to proceed North on Mildred, then East on Lawrence, and South on N. York to the front of the school.

Longer walking options: (Meet at 8:10, begin walking at 8:15)

3. Corner of Wilson and Sussex near the Little Caesar’s Pizza. We will have parents who volunteer to lead the kids to school from this location, but all parents are welcome to join in and walk with their children. Children will hold their signs up to show that they are participating. The route from this location will be to proceed West on Wilson, then North on N. Martha, then West on Edward to the front of the school.
4. Corner of Doxtator and N. Martha. We will also have parents who volunteer to lead the kids to school from this location, but all parents are welcome to join in and walk with their children. Children will hold their signs up to show that they are participating. The route from this location will proceed South on N. Martha, then West on Edward Street to the front of the school.
It is your responsibility as a parent to ensure that your child gets to school safely, or you must provide a responsible adult to walk to school with your child for this event. We are simply encouraging more families to walk to school as part of the National Walk to School Day and to promote healthy habits.
We have volunteer parents to lead the activity, but they are not taking responsibility to get your child to school. Please take the time to walk with your child to school on National Walk to School Day. This can be a wonderful bonding opportunity for you and your family, and the Howard Learning Community!

Sincerely,

Daniel Blessing, Ed.S
Principal, Howard Elementary School

Dear Parents,

As you know, we take safety and security very seriously, so we would like to review the district Student Code of Conduct as it applies to transportation. Keep in mind that while specific items are listed under the code of conduct as it applies to our expectations on the bus, students are expected to follow all school rules at all times to and from school since the bus is an extension of the classroom.

The following is an excerpt from the Dearborn Public School Student Code of conduct which can be found in its entirety at https://studentservices.dearbornschools.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/178/2013/07/blog-documents.pdf

J. BUS TRANSPORTATION The school bus is an extension of the classroom and any infraction of the Student Code of Conduct on the bus will be handled by the building administrator. The rules apply to district owned vehicles as well as any such contracted transportation. For health and safety reasons, video camera surveillance will be utilized on school buses. Any student behavior that affects the health or safety of other students on and around the bus will be treated as a violation of the Student Code of Conduct and will be subject to disciplinary action. While on board any school bus, all provisions of the Student Code of Conduct will apply to all passengers. The following is a supplementary list of violations of the bus rules:

1. Failing to stay off the road while waiting for the bus
2. Attempting to enter or exit the bus before it reaches a complete stop
3. Failing to remain seated while the bus is in motion
4. Eating or littering on the bus
5. Having head, arms, or any other items outside bus
6. Tampering with bus equipment
7. Disobeying driver instruction (insubordination)
8. Obstructing aisle with books, coats, and other objects
9. Throwing objects in and out of the bus.
(End of excerpt)

Our discussions with students regarding our PBIS expectations are specific to classroom behavior and also extend to what we refer to as “everywhere expectations”. Our expectations fall under three broad categories: Respect, Responsibility, and Safety, and these expectations also apply on the bus. This includes, but is not limited to:
1. Walk on and off the bus- No running
2. Keep hands, feet, and objects to yourself
3. Be Respectful-Treat others with respect at all times.
4. Be Responsible-clean up after yourself.
5. Be Safe- Remain seated on the bus, and follow all safety expectations for riding the bus.
6. Follow directions from the bus driver.
Students who consistently disobey these expectations, will lose bus riding privileges as part of the disciplinary process.

Parents are not allowed to enter the bus for any reason since this is an extension of our school/classroom. All parents are required to sign in before entering our school; all parents are required to sign in to the office and must have express permission to enter a district vehicle (i.e. field trip) from the principal or appropriate school administrator.

Thank you for your support and cooperation. If we work together, we can all help keep our students safe!

Sincerely,

Daniel Blessing, Ed.S
Principal, Howard Elementary School

Dear Howard Learning Community,

Every day, all of us here at Howard work to make sure our school is a safe place for your children. We practice how to exit the building in case of a fire and where to go in the building in case of a bad storm. As part of that ongoing effort to keep our school safe, and to make sure you have accurate facts, I wanted to share with you information regarding actions we took this morning to ensure the safety of our students.

This morning, we were informed about a police situation at a business on Telegraph road.  As a precaution, all students remained inside for the morning.  All outside doors were checked to make sure they were locked which is part of our standard operating procedure once the school day starts.

I want to make it clear that at no time were any students or staff in danger. The actions we took were precautionary and done to maintain a safe school environment.  We have a great partnership with the Dearborn Police and they would have contacted us directly if they felt the situation posed any type of security threat for our school.

At Howard Elementary we take great pride in the academic achievement of our students, the professionalism of staff, and our ability to work together as a community to maintain a safe and orderly school environment.  By keeping an open line of communication we can ensure that our students will remain safe at school.

Sincerely,

Daniel Blessing, Ed.S

Principal

Howard Elementary School

There will be no school for kindergarten students because of Professional Development on:

9/22/17

10/6/17

11/17/17

2/2/18

(On those days, Kids Club will not be available for kindergarten students.)

We are looking forward to seeing you at “Open House” tomorrow (Thursday, September 14) from 6:00-7:30 PM!

Hello Howard Families!

Tomorrow (Friday) morning at 9AM the PTA will host a Meet & Greet in the cafeteria.  Coffee and donuts will be served.  This is a great opportunity to meet our principal, Mr. Blessing, and connect with PTA members.

Dear Howard Learning Community,

Over the past two weeks, we have seen a steady increase in the enrollments at Howard Elementary School.  This has caused some of our grade levels to approach the capacity limit.  Our district central office personnel are aware of the class sizes and will be monitoring our numbers to see if we can bring in additional teachers to these grade levels. If we continue to enroll more students, we most certainly will need additional staff.  Currently, our fourth and fifth grade classes have higher enrollments than the other grades.  

The addition of a classroom teacher could cause your student’s current placement to change, and this is one of the reasons that we stress the  importance of remaining open-minded about your child’s placement as we focus on the best placement for all students at all grade levels.  

However, having another teacher come into a grade level will always decrease the class size and allow for more one-on-one instruction and small group utilization. We will continue to monitor the increasing enrollment at Howard and inform the community when and if we need to make changes.  

This challenge is not unique to Howard, as many other schools in our district are experiencing increasing enrollment.  This is a natural occurrence in a community that is thriving and growing!

As always, Howard teachers work in collaboration with one another, work daily in small groups, confer one on one with your student, and build a classroom culture that makes all students feel comfortable and excited about their education.

Thank you for your understanding and support!

Sincerely,

Daniel Blessing, Ed.S

Principal, Howard Elementary School

Safety is everyone’s responsibility! Please help keep our children safe!

Please exercise and model positive behavior during arrival and dismissal.  A little patience will go a long way.  If everyone follows our basic traffic flow guidelines, local ordinances and traffic laws,  it will help us to have a smooth and safe arrival and dismissal.

Please click on the link to to view a map with traffic and parking guidelines and expectations to help keep our students safe!

We are looking forward to welcoming our students back to school next week!

Thank you!

Please click on the following link for a map and details regarding arrival and dismissal:

Howard Parking and Traffic Flow